By Michael Pitts and Jennifer Bennett - The Writing Center at GULC.
It’s 9:00 p.m. Your twenty-five page paper is due in exactly twelve hours, and you still
have to write twenty pages, miraculously produce some sources you can actually cite, and
maybe, if you’re lucky, squeeze in eight minutes for a quick proofread. A familiar feeling
of panic is setting in, and you know you’ve got a long night ahead.
This is not the first time you have pushed a paper deadline. You think, “How did I get
myself into this situation again?” Then you remember that in the three months since the
paper was assigned, you did everything you could to avoid working on the paper. And
now, even though you have only twelve hours left, you’re still not doing what you know
you should be – making a pot of black coffee and settling in to work. Instead, you’re
staring into your refrigerator wondering if, despite having had dinner an hour ago, you’re
already hungry enough to take a sandwich break.
Does this scenario sound familiar to you? Most of us have been guilty of procrastination
on one occasion or another, particularly when confronted with an unfamiliar writing task.
The tendency to procrastinate may stem from anxiety, fear, embarrassment, or
discomfort. The end result of procrastination may be a missed opportunity, a frustrated
goal or a low quality work product. Whatever the causes or frequency of their
occurrence, episodes of procrastination need not be terminal. With a small amount of
reflection upon your particular modes of procrastination, you may be able to identify
techniques that will help you enter the writing process with less stress.
Here are some tips to help you end the vicious cycle of procrastination:
1.
Break the Assignment Into Small Pieces
When you initially get a writing assignment, do you immediately think that you
will be unable to finish such a big or complicated project? Do you panic at the thought of
everything that will need to get done before a major assignment can be handed in? Stop. Try to remember that not everything has to be completed at once (unless you wait until
the very end!). Make a list of the separate steps involved in the writing process (e.g.,
researching, generating a thesis statement, outlining, writing a first draft) and think of
each step as an individual task. Just breaking up the idea of a paper in your mind can
calm you down and help you feel more equipped to handle the task ahead. If you still
procrastinate on the task after breaking it down, break it down even further. So, break
“researching” down to “find ten relevant cases” and if that still seems unmanageable,
break “find ten relevant cases” down to “run a Westlaw search.” Or, break “proofread”
down to “check Bluebooking,” and if that still seems unmanageable, break it down still
more to “make sure all case names are underlined.” Once your tasks are as simple as
possible, you’re much more likely to sit down and complete them right away.
2.
Make a Detailed To-Do List with Specific Deadlines
Is your only goal to complete the paper by the day it is due? Having a single, large
goal with one deadline is a common mistake that facilitates procrastination. Break your
assignment up into small tasks (see Tip # 1), then structure your to-do list around those
specific tasks. For example, if you have completed your research and want to begin
writing your first draft, set a goal of writing two pages a day, so that you can have a first
draft in two weeks. Don’t forget to include specific personal goals in your planning. If
you schedule time to exercise, do laundry, and go grocery shopping along with your
project goals, you will increase your overall sense of control and your feeling of
accomplishment. Remember to be realistic in your goal-setting – there’s no point in
making overly optimistic to-do lists, because you’ll only feel discouraged if you don’t
meet all your goals (nobody can write a first-draft, run five miles, walk the dog, and bake
a layer cake in a single day). Finally, many people find that it helps to write a to-do list
down and cross items off as they are completed – there is something intrinsically
satisfying about marking off achievements, and this visual reminder of your progress is
likely to inspire you to stay on task.
3. Make a Time Schedule …
You’ve probably got a daily planner
(if you don’t have one, you need to get one, or the electronic equivalent). What do you
write in your planner? Do you write, “Work on first draft” each day for a full month?
Instead of setting aside this type of general time to write your paper, set aside a specific
time period (i.e., “Monday 7-9: Write two pages for first draft”) and make yourself
adhere to the schedule. Some writers find it easier to plan if they work backward. That
is, set a deadline for the project and then work backward to set interim deadlines for
defined tasks that need to be accomplished in order to meet the deadline. No matter
which mode of scheduling you use, make sure you also schedule in some time to NOT
work. The most important thing to remember when making a schedule is that writing is an
intensely personal process, and everyone approaches it differently. Do you know that it
takes you a long time to research but only a short time to proofread? Tailor your schedule
accordingly. Do you know that you’ll be exhausted after finishing your first draft? Give
yourself a day off instead of scheduling yourself to immediately start revising. It is often
helpful to overestimate the amount of work you have so that you give yourself plenty of
time to finish everything – i.e., if you think it will take you three to five hours to check
for Bluebooking errors, err on the side of caution and schedule in six hours to Bluebook.
Finishing something early is hugely satisfying; feeling as though you’re scrambling to
complete a task that you didn’t give yourself enough time for can be frustrating and
demoralizing.
4. …and Stick to It
Do you ever sit down to write – filled with good intentions – only to find that an
hour has somehow passed and you’ve yet to write a word? It’s far too easy to spend two
hours “writing” without getting anything done at all. To make sure you’re actually
writing when you’re “writing,” eliminate as many distractions as possible. Sign out of
gchat, turn off the movie you’re watching in the background, and resist the urge to
compulsively check your email every two minutes. If you really need to, turn off your
Internet altogether or work in a coffee shop that doesn’t have Wi-Fi. If it still seems
daunting to do nothing but write for a two-hour block, break that block down into smaller
chunks of time. Set a kitchen timer or an alarm clock for a specific amount of time (say,
fifteen minutes), and tell yourself you will do nothing but write until the alarm sounds.
You will be amazed at how much you can achieve in fifteen minutes of solid, focused
writing and, at the end of the fifteen minutes, you will often find that you are eager to
continue writing. If you hit a wall at the end of the fifteen minutes, don’t become anxious
– working for fifteen minutes then taking a short break might not seem productive, but it
is a much better use of your time than two hours of reading food blogs, checking
Facebook, and taking an inordinately long time to type your name and the date at the top
of your blank page.
Source:
http://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/academic-programs/legal-writing-scholarship/writing-center/upload/kaavya-just-do-it-tips-for-avoiding-procrastination.pdf
